Seminar offers insights to cochlear implants, speech

Tina Sleyster, owner of North Idaho Speech & Language Associates in Sandpoint, recently attended a two-day seminar in Boise on the topic of cochlear implants.

The seminar, which was sponsored by the state of Idaho Infant & Toddler program and School for the Deaf and Blind, focused on the importance of early intervention for children with hearing impairment and deafness as well as techniques for stimulating auditory perception for speech in infants and toddlers.

Sleyster, who is a speech pathologist with certification in clinical competency, attended the seminar at the request of the Department of Health and Welfare and was the sole representative for Region 1 which includes the Coeur d'Alene area. Because of her professional background and additional training she received at the seminar, Sleyster will serve as the resource person in Region 1 for information on cochlear implants.

Sleyster explained that the cochlea is a series of canals in the ear that lead to the auditory nerve. For many people with hearing loss it is the hair cells inside the cochlea that are impaired. If the auditory nerve is functioning properly then a person is typically a candidate for a cochlear implant.

The implant is an electrode which is snaked through the canals, bypassing the dysfunctional portion of the cochlea, until it reaches the auditory nerve. It is implanted surgically and is driven by an external battery.

According to Sleyster cochlear implants have been around for about ten years, but have become more popular recently as they are no longer considered experimental and are generally covered by insurance. She said there are 28 million hearing impaired individuals in the United States alone and that each day 33 babies are born with some form of hearing loss. Thankfully early detection can now help those at the earliest stages. Sleyster said that most hospitals perform infant screening at birth even before the newborn leaves the hospital. No longer are people waiting until a hearing loss affects language and intellectual development. And that, she says, is critical to a child's development.

"To function in a hearing society, hearing impaired individuals with profound hearing loss require special education, social services and additional health care services," said Sleyster.

Sleyster said that it is more important than ever that professionals such as herself have professional training for both early referrals as well as intervention following the implants being placed in the ear. Once the implants are placed in the ear, there is still much work that needs to be done for the patient.

She explains that for someone who has lived his or her entire life with severe hearing impairment or complete deafness, the auditory cortex of the brain has never before been stimulated. Part of the post surgical process is to teach the brain to hear.

She said that once people receive the implants the process of introducing them to sound must be taken gradually.

"For people who have never heard before, it is an incredibly emotional experience," she said. "It has to be taken slowly because it can over stimulate them."

Sleyster looks forward to working with both patients and other professionals to assist patients in the pre and post surgical stages of cochlear implants.

"It (the implants) allows another option for families," she said "and it opens the door for speech and language development for children as well as spontaneous interaction among their peers. These kids have never experienced that."